Day 1: Fitness Test

So, today was my initial fitness assessment with my personal trainer.  Here's what we had to do:

First, we did the embarrassing stuff...weight, measurements, and yes, the calipers came out.  I know that many say that BMI is a completely inaccurate way of measuring things, but, it IS used, and, I'm in the OBESE category as a result.  It's not something that I didn't already know at least.  I mean, I'm doing this for a reason - to get UN-obese :)

Then, on to the physical tests.

First, pushups!  I had to do as many as I could in a row.  I was able to eek out 20.  At 18 I was struggling, but I pushed through to get to 20.

Next - cardio test.  He had a 12" high step aerobics step.  He also had a metronome that ticked at 96 beats per minute.  I had to keep that rhythm as I stepped up and down.  The test was for 3 minutes, or until I couldn't go anymore.  I'm proud to say that I did it for the full three minutes! That works out to 288 steps.

Next up - sit and reach, best out of three tries.  I reached 25 inches, which I thought was pretty darn good considering I have a bit of a gut that gets in my way, lol.

Then, situps.  Had to just do them until I fatigued.  I did 32!

Next was a balance test.  This was for time or until I lost balance, with a max time of 45 seconds.  I had to stand normally and focus on a spot on the white board for 45 seconds.  Then, I had to stand on one foot while focusing on the spot, and I did that for 45 seconds as well (thank you MHS marching band training - I could have stayed on one foot for a few more minutes!).  But then I had to do it with my eyes closed.  Two feet, no problem, went the whole 45 seconds.  But then I had to do one foot with my eyes closed - I only made it 14 seconds!  It's amazing how visual I am.  I am very easily disoriented - I get car sick, air sick, etc...if I am moving but I can't see and focus on the movement, I get disoriented.

Some stretching after that and we were done.  He'll analyze all of my measurements and results, etc. and we'll meet Monday afternoon to discuss the results and make some plans and goals.

I'm pretty happy with how I did today.  Even with a cold I was able to push though on the cardio test.  Certainly there's room for improvement, but, I still feel this was a strong start and a good jumping off point to some good workouts to come!